Monday, December 19, 2011

Chai - Chocolate Snickerdoodles

For me, Christmas is all about family traditions. These traditions extend from how we celebrate the Holy day, how we prepare and decorate, and how and what we bake and eat. On December 1st I have been donning my favorite Christmas aprons (future post will be my aprons) and baking a variety of family favorite cookies, pies and cakes. Many of my cookies are the traditional ones that many people bake such as Spritz cookies, Mexican Wedding Cookies, Fudge and jam/fruit filled cookies. This year I tried a couple of new cookies to add to my holiday baking repertoire and today I want to share Chai - Chocolate Snickerdoodles. I discovered this recipe last year while watching ABC's Good Morning America and went to their website, printed it out but did not make them until I rediscovered my recipe yesterday. These are most definitely going to remain on my annual Christmas cookie favorite list!

My childhood memories of delicious cookies included Snickerdoodles. They are among my favorite cookies. I also love Chai! Years ago a dear friend made for me my first cup of real chai. It seemed to me that he was going to a lot of trouble just to make a cup of tea, but one sip was all it took for me to be a chai drinker. This recipe for Chai-Chocolate Snickerdoodles is a cookie version of my favorite beverage. The key ingredients include ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, all spice, white pepper and vanilla: all of those wonderful flavors found in Chai! And the addition of some cocoa powder adds a hint of chocolate. Yummm!

Combine the first six ingredients (sugar through white pepper) in a small bowl; reserve 1/2 cup in a shallow dish for rolling the cookies in right before baking. Add cocoa to the small bowl with remaining sugar/spice mixture. Stir to blend.

Cream butter with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add the spiced cocoa mixture and beat until combined. Add eggs and vanilla, then add flour and baking powder, mixing at low speed until combined.